Distressed Home Sales Continue to Drop

Distressed sales made up 9.6 percent of all home sales in the Inland Empire during May, according to data released Tuesday.

That was above the national rate of 8.4 percent, but it also marked the largest improvement of any major metropolitan market in the United States from its distressed sales peak: in February 2009, 76.5 percent of the home sales in the Inland Empire were distressed sales, according to CoreLogic in Irvine.

Nationally, distressed sales were down 2.1 percent compared with May 2015.

A distressed sale is one in which a house is sold quickly so the owner can raise money quickly. They include bank-owned properties and short sales, the latter being properties that are sold for less than their market value.

Nationwide, distressed sales peaked at 27.9 percent in January 2009, so the May data represented a drop of 22.5 percent from that level.

At its current pace, the U.S. housing market will return to two percent distressed sales – its level before the housing crisis began – in about three years, according to CoreLogic.